With the election of Hamas, the Bush Administration’s democracy promotion policy in the Middle East appears to be a failure. However, an in-depth review of the theory, motivations and actions leading up to the election of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections shows a more complex picture. The history of the Hamas movement proves that it is a pragmatic and forward thinking organization that has been able to adapt to the modern electoral system with great skill; furthermore, in its election may lie the seeds for a lasting peace through the democratic process.

Seemingly cursed by the legacy of the caudillo, government under a strong executive has come to characterize the structure of the modern Argentine state. Since the administration of Carlos Menem in the 1990s, questions have arisen as to the progress Argentina has made with regard to the consolidation of its democracy. However, while Menem set a precedent for directly challenging democratic institutions during his presidency, has history justified his unilateral decision-making as the only means of overcoming the barriers that obstructed Argentina’s political and economic development?

How should Italy address its rising tide of immigration? This paper compares the phenomenon to the flow of water; it can be blocked or it can be channeled to bring about positive outcomes. Italian regulations since the 1980s have restricted and only mildly directed the flow of immigrants. Economically, Italy as a whole has benefited greatly from the entrepreneurial spirit brought by new arrivals. Culturally, however, the nation has yet to find the means to fully integrate its foreign-born population. To address the issue, the cost of immigrating illegally must be raised, while the cost of doing so legally must be lowered. The European Union, national and local governments should strengthen social services, increase access to the banking system, sponsor skills training in countries that send immigrants and link trade and migration together.

America’s “unnecessary wars” adhere to a basic pattern. They have been fought in the name of the broader mission that many Americans believe Providence has chosen their nation to carry out, but have been characterized by a prewar “fog” of incomplete or flawed information. They are the handiwork of a small but determined “war party,” and the US political system often acts as a stimulus to the use of force, rather than a check on it, as opposition politicians join the call for fear of being branded unpatriotic. Finally, from the War of 1812 to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, unnecessary wars have more often than not failed to advance the interests of those who pursued them. These lessons of the past are cause for serious reflection; the least that can be said after reviewing these wars is that the benefit of the doubt should never be given to those who urge military action.

Among the factors behind tensions in the relationship between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), which erupted over the invasion of Iraq in 2003, is a change in the terms of discourse between the two blocs. How did the US move from a position where Europeans promised to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with their ally in the aftermath of 9/11, to being cast as a threat to European interests and values? In attempting to explain contemporary transatlantic relations through an examination of foreign policy discourse, it is argued that a process of "Othering" in which the EU sought to construct differences between the two sides, particularly in its approach to international relations, is useful to our understanding of the place of identity in this changing relationship. By analyzing the European response to a set of policy differences in 2002, this article looks at deliberate attempts by Europe to elaborate a discourse of difference with the US in order to sustain its own foreign policy identity as a collective global actor.

The following examines the extent to which European Union (EU) institutions and policies have affected resource distribution between center and periphery within Member States. As resource distribution changes, so does the politicization of regional nationalist parties. The way that nationalist parties include the EU in their party program, however, is dependent upon the perceived type of influence the EU has upon their region and the political goals of the party itself. Two Mediterranean regions in Spain, Galicia and Catalonia, as well as one non-Mediterranean region, Scotland, are examined to see empirically how the EU affects political territorial dynamics. The following discussion suggests the need to examine EU policies which later become political inputs within Member States. Moreover, the discussion indicates that it may be fruitful to utilize old models of the nation-state to understand how domestic politics have been transformed through European integration.

The main purpose of the new Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was to produce a more efficient and more democratic decision-making process for an enlarged European Union (EU). This article argues that the new arrangements have added no real progress towards a more democratic Common Foreign and Security Policy and European Security and Defense Policy. It also claims that a number of practical suggestions for bridging that particular democratic gap have not been included, and that the new defense dimension adds yet another democratic deficit to the EU. All these developments sadly confirm the view that the question of the democratization of the EU's foreign, security, and defense policies does not top the current political agenda.

This article attempts to respond to questions of public policy change that increasingly preoccupy political science given complex multilevel pressures at international and regional levels. To reveal the ways transformations at both the supranational and interstate levels constrain policymaking, and to understand the interactions at work, we first highlight how recent changes observed in domains as diverse as foreign and security policies, defense policy and family policy can be interpreted as signs of convergence. Secondly, in a more causalist perspective, we envision several variables as possible explanations of convergence. Finally, we seek to understand. convergence by observing mechanisms through which it may be produced.

This article uses the case of the Irish Reprimand to showcase the importance of European Monetary Union (EMU) credibility. Although the reprimand was justified in light of Ireland's inflationary spillover effects and pro-cyclical fiscal policies, the measures taken by the European Union (EU) against Ireland have resulted-and may continue to result in a loss of credibility with respect to EU citizens who see contradictions in EU behavior, especially considering the fact that clear violators of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), for example, Germany and France go unpunished. Considering the reprimand in the context of the current debate surrounding the SGP, it is important that the EMU focus on maintaining credibility with EU citizens (not financial markets) by consistently and transparently applying its measures to gain public opinion and confidence.

The Italian labor market suffers from stark rigidities and high regulation. Government attempts to alleviate high unemployment through deregulation and moderate labor market reforms have met with staunch and aggressive opposition on the part of the trade unions. This paper seeks to explain how a squabble over technical issues has turned into an existential fight on the part of the trade unions, generating major social upheaval with ripple effects across the societal structure. The consequences of dislocating the breadwinner model will be considered along with the implications of a fluid labor market structure on Italian industrial relations.

The objective of this paper is to discuss the implications of a possible improvement in the terms-of-trade for Brazil (a reversal of the controversial Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis) resulting from China's industrialization process. The paper will address, in particular, how this terms-of-trade improvement opens the possibility for a new model for Brazil's economic development, based on the export of commodities. It finds that the dual effect of lowering the prices of manufactures and raising those of commodities, brought about by China's industrial export-led growth model, will likely invalidate the declining terms-of-trade aspect of the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis. Nevertheless, many of the implications derived from this hypothesis still deserve careful consideration.

Discourse between the United States and the European Union regarding peacekeeping operations have important implications for transatlantic relations. Are "Europeans from Venus and Americans from Mars" in their respective foreign policy approaches? How do transatlantic actors choose which crises to respond to-in terms of narrow national interest or in terms of moral values? Which actions do they suggest in dealing with humanitarian contingencies-military intervention or softer types of intervention? This article traces rhetorical clues for tensions and/or agreements in post-Kosovo era transatlantic relations on the issue of peacekeeping. The findings of this analysis indicate that there are not as many differences between transatlantic framings of peacekeeping operations as suggested by the literature on transatlantic relations.

This article deals with transatlantic trade relations and analyses the question of whether or not the US-EU economic partnership has become substantially damaged in recent years. First, the authors differentiate between traditional trade disputes (Airbus/Boeing and the Byrd Amendment) and systemic trade disputes (GMOs and FSCs), before identifying the main political and economic causes for conflicts. Based on the analysis of four major trade disputes, the authors then come to the conclusion that the transatlantic economic partnership is still strong, while it currently also faces serious challenges which should not be underestimated. Therefore, they demand that the EU and the US intensify their efforts for conflict prevention and resolution and strengthening of the transatlantic institutional framework.

The following essay attempts to identify and interpret the striking discursive similarities between the 2003 European Security Strategy and the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States of America. According to the main argument of the essay, the Atlantic dimension of the European Security Strategy is not simply a result of American political-military supremacy. Rather, it reflects an ideological, institutional and material convergence between dominant sections of the European foreign policy establishment and the United States, under the banners of Atlanticism and new liberal imperialism.

This article examines cooperation between the EU and the US in the fight against transnational organized crime, especially terrorism. This includes the EU's internal reaction to the terrorist attacks on the US, as well as transatlantic initiatives involving Europol, judicial cooperation, container and airline security, and travel documents. Despite the emergence of transatlantic tensions, the period since 9/11 is notable for greater, not lesser, cooperation between the EU and the US.

Whereas in the 1970s considerable conflict characterized transatlantic economic relations, still before the mid-1970s the two sides of the Atlantic managed to find satisfactory compromises on most issues. To explain this outcome, I argue that disputes in the economic realm among highly interdependent entities tend to mobilize countervailing forces. Fearing losses, these forces push for a resolution of controversial issues before they can set off a genuine crisis. After applying this argument to the case of the 1970s, I suggest that a similar mechanism may help the European Union and the United States find compromises on disputed issues in the early twenty-first century as well.

Even with foreign military surveillance, Afghanistan's democratization may become no more than a paper tiger and Iraq's a solid clay pigeon for ethnic groups to shoot at. So suggests a post-war comparative study of (a) the democratization mandates, (b) structures and procedures envisioned, and (c) the implementation record. Depending on how welcome foreign troops are in other ethnically divided societies today, they too may find their fate between the paper and pigeon roles.